May 15—EAU CLAIRE — Two prominent Wisconsin businesses are taking a dispute to court over which one should pay to fix up a run-down parking lot on Eau Claire's south side.

Earlier this month, Festival Foods filed a civil suit in Eau Claire County against Menard Inc., which is the landlord of the grocery store located at 3007 Mall Drive.

The Onalaska-based grocery store chain claims that Menard should have replaced the 20-year-old parking lot outside the store as its condition is beyond routine repairs and past its useful life.

With customers complaining last year about vehicle damage from big potholes, Festival Foods opted to push ahead with repaving this spring. The grocer is seeking a judge's ruling to discount this year's rent payments on the store to make up for the cost of the parking lot reconstruction.

Bid documents from Monarch Paving Co. of Amery show it will cost $308,030 to repave the Mall Drive store's parking lot. That's equivalent to about 41% of the $748,774 in annual rent for the Mall Drive store.

As of Monday, Eau Claire-based Menard Inc. had not yet been officially served with the lawsuit, according to online court records.

When asked for comment on the matter, company spokesman Jeff Abbott responded by email that "It is our policy not to speculate on future possible, nor comment on ongoing lawsuits."

The two companies began feuding in fall 2021 over the parking lot's condition, according to correspondence Festival submitted with its lawsuit.

The grocery store has been hiring asphalt companies annually to do regular maintenance of the lot, which is required under its lease for the store. However, the two contractors it had used in prior years declined to take the job in 2021, stating the pavement was too far deteriorated for routine crack-filling to be worthwhile.

Festival Foods contacted Menard in November 2021, citing the lot's bad condition and the landlord's duty to replace it.

Last spring, the store received multiple complaints about the large potholes in the parking lot, including a customer who had two tires pop while driving through one.

Menard sent an agent out to inspect the lot, and then wrote to Festival in May 2022 that it did not need to be replaced and that the grocer is responsible for filling the potholes.

Festival Foods sent formal notice in August to Menard, stating that the lease required the parking lot to be fixed.

"By failing to replace the parking lot, Menard is in default of its obligations as landlord," wrote attorney Jessica Mederson of law firm Hansen Reynolds.

A day later, Menard responded by stating that all the lot needed was routine maintenance, which is Festival Foods' responsibility.

"In your letter you allege that the parking lot is in need of total replacement, however you have provided no documentation that shows this is the case," Josh Melder, senior counsel at Menard Inc., wrote.

Festival Foods then hired engineers from firm Simpson Gumpertz & Helger to review the parking lot's original design and condition. The engineers' report, which confirmed the parking lot was beyond repair and needed complete replacement, was sent in September to Menard. Correspondence from Festival Foods' legal counsel accompanied the report and stated the grocer's intention to get the lot replaced and deduct the cost from its rent.

As the lot's condition continued to worsen last year, Festival Foods hired Fahrner Asphalt Sealers of Plover to do $23,360 worth of patching and striping work to prevent vehicle damage or customer injuries, the lawsuit stated.

Then Festival Foods got bids in February from four pavement companies to see how much it will cost to replace the parking lot. The grocery store provided those bids to Menards, giving the landlord an idea how much that work would cost.

Festival alleges that Menard then contacted low-bidder Senn Blacktop, telling the contractor that it would handle the work and to not sign a contract with Festival Foods for it.

Then Menard told Festival Foods it would rebuild the parking lot, but only after the grocery store owner repairs damaged concrete curbs in the lot, according to the lawsuit.

Festival asserts that the curbs are part of the parking lot and will need to be replaced along with the pavement to meet engineering standards.

Work to replace the parking lot has already begun with portions of the pavement already being torn up by crews. The job is being done in sections to allow a portion of the lot to remain open to store customers.